To Live Is Christ | Week 5

Well, good morning.

It's a pleasure to be here with you again to bring God's word.

So we've been working in the book of Philippians in a series called To Live Is Christ.

And like Michael said, we took a break last week so that we could celebrate baptisms at Delaware State Park.

For all who were there can attest, it was a joyful morning.

And for those who couldn't make it, just know that you were dearly missed.

So this morning we're going to continue in our series in the book of Philippians, starting in chapter three.

So if you'll turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter three, and we're going to be going through verses one to eleven.

I'll give you a moment.

Okay.

Beginning in verse one.

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same thing to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, to put no confidence in the flesh.

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law, a Pharisee as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in death, that by any means possible I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

It's a beautiful text.

And in this text, we are faced with serious issues in the life of a believer.

There are ideas which at first seem like they're constrained to the distant past.

There are big questions being answered.

There are implications that Christians simply cannot ignore.

So the main sight line that we're going to maintain is this: Who are God's chosen people?

How are they made right with him?

What position do they have to him?

And what is their responsibility?

I'll say it again if you're taking notes.

Who are God's chosen people?

How are they made right with him?

What position do they have to him?

And what is their responsibility?

So let's look back at our text starting in verse one.

Finally, my brothers rejoice in the Lord.

Paul is commanding the Philippian church and us to rejoice in the Lord.

But what does it mean to rejoice?

In the simplest terms, it means to express joy.

It's a verb, implying that we are to do something.

Rejoicing is to feel inward joy and then to express that joy outwardly.

Even the idea of feeling here is active.

Inside, we intentionally take hold and feel it in the depths of our souls.

But what is joy?

It's easy to count joy as just another one of our human emotions.

But Christian joy is so much more than just emotion.

The world will tell us that joy is just happiness, is a synonymous, the same term.

Please yourself, seek pleasure, and you will be happy.

But, church, I tell you, this is hedonism.

Worldly pleasure may result in temporary happiness, just for a short while, but it can never bring us Christian joy.

The Bible says joy is a spiritual fruit.

Galatians 5, I'm sure you are all familiar.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

These fruits are what grow when the Holy Spirit of God is planted in the heart of a Christian.

Joy is not just a natural emotion like happiness, it's a living outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It grows in our hearts and works its way out because of the Holy Spirit cannot be contained.

The cause of our joy is the Holy Spirit, but joy also has an object.

And Paul tells us that object is the Lord.

He says, Rejoice in the Lord.

Each fruit of the Spirit works in the life of a believer to do two things, to worship God, and also to be the benefit for his people, to worship God and be the benefit of his people.

Joy stirs up in us contentment, gladness, thanksgiving, directed toward God for all the works that he has done.

And as that joy grows in our heart by the power of God's Spirit, it spills over to the people around us.

Because the object of Christian joy is the Lord, manifested in us by the Holy Spirit.

Joy cannot fall victim to our circumstances like happiness is so prone to.

But I believe what is really meant here is that my circumstances are making it difficult for me to feel happiness in this particular moment.

Joy, on the other hand, cannot be taken away.

It cannot be stolen.

The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of the Spirit in a believer.

So you might be wondering, the natural question then is: well, what if I don't feel love or joy or patience or kindness in a particular moment?

What if I don't feel those all the time?

Does that mean that I don't have the spirit?

Well, my incredible insight and the insightful answer would be, maybe.

Maybe.

Far be it from me to stand up here and to try to convince you that you do or do not have the Spirit of God inside of you.

There's a real danger in believing that you have the Spirit, that you are saved when you're actually not.

And there's also a danger in doubting that you have the Spirit when you really are saved.

So my encouragement to you, if you are wondering, is to be diligent in confirming your calling in election, as it says in 1 Peter.

Make your salvation sure and be fruitful in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That's what Scripture says.

So if you're concerned that, well, I don't feel these fruits all the time, if you're concerned that you might not have the Spirit in you, I would say evaluate yourself.

It's okay, it's a normal thing to do.

The scripture tells us to evaluate ourselves.

Do you really really believe that Jesus is Lord?

Do you confess him with your mouth?

Do you walk and talk in a way that is worthy of God?

Now, I don't mean, do you put on a show for others to make them believe that you are a real believer?

A good show.

But what I mean is when no one's around.

How are you then?

In the quiet times, when it's just you, do you act as if you believe Jesus is Lord?

What about in your self-talk?

The talk that goes on in your mind that no one else can hear but you, do you confess Jesus there?

Or is that talk something that you would be ashamed of if it were to come to light?

But I tell you, if in truth you do confess Jesus to be Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And you cannot be saved without the Holy Spirit in you.

So if you are wondering, I would say examine yourself, make your salvation sure, practice the fruits of the Spirit in dependence of the Spirit or on the Spirit.

And as our text says this morning, rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord, practice joy with the Lord as the object of your joy.

So back in our text, continuing with verse one, rejoice in the Lord.

To write the same things to you is no trouble to me, and is safe for you.

It's safe for them to be reminded of the things of God.

Repetition is good for us.

It's the same Jesus, the same gospel, the same doctrine that we preach week after week here.

God's word is closed.

The gospel is unchanging.

There is nothing new coming from God.

And we don't need anything new.

New doctrine, as Spurgeon says, is dangerous doctrine.

If you hear about a new doctrine or a new word from the Lord, I tell you, you better run straight to your Bibles.

1 Thessalonians 5 says, to test all things holding fast to what is good.

Test those things.

If you hear any doctrine, anything that comes from here or anywhere else, run to your Bible and test it and hold on to what is good and throw away anything else that's bad.

Repeated doctrine is safe.

And it also protects us from becoming worldly.

Romans 12, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

When we renew our minds in God's word daily, we're being transformed from citizens of this world into citizens of heaven.

We must humbly submit to that word, to all that God has said, holding fast to what is good, letting it transform us.

It's easy to read these words and go, hmm, that's good.

That's good for Pastor Mikhail.

It's good for Michael.

But for me.

But I tell you, let it transform you.

Humbly submit to the word and let it transform you.

We sing God's word back to him and to each other.

We preach through God's word, verse like verse, like we are this morning.

The God of the universe wrote a book and is telling you where to find everlasting life.

It doesn't get more amazing than that.

The truths of God's word, as Peter says, are worth repeating and hearing again and again.

So again, I say, rejoice in the Lord.

That's our word for this morning.

Now I want to give some reasons.

Why?

Why can we and should we rejoice in the Lord?

Now, as I go through these next verses, I want you to follow that train of thought, the sight line that I told you.

Here it is again.

Who are God's chosen people?

How are they made right with him?

What position do they have to him?

And what is their responsibility?

In verse 2, Paul says, Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.

So here, a little bit of history.

Paul is referring to both the Jews and a religious sect called the Judaizers.

Where the Jews they just rejected Jesus outright.

The Judaizers insisted that Christians were to follow the law of Moses and then tack on Jesus at the end.

They rejected the truth that salvation comes from grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone.

They taught that circumcision was mandatory for salvation and required the Gentiles to become Jewish converts before accepting Christ.

Become a Jew, follow the law, and then you can have Jesus.

Now Paul spent a great deal, a good amount of time, of his ministry dealing with these legalistic Judaizers.

In Acts 15, you can read all about it at a council in Jerusalem, and he talks about it in Galatians, and by this time he's pretty fed up by the time he gets to Philippians, being one of the last books that he wrote.

And you might read this though, and it might be understandable why he's so harsh.

But you might read this and go, ooh.

Dogs.

Evildoers, mutilators of the flesh.

But Paul, although the language is strong, he was actually describing a deeper truth.

It was common for the Jews to call the Gentiles dogs.

After all, the Jews were the ones who were historically God's chosen people.

The Gentiles were just filthy sinners who were outside of God's inner circle.

They were the dogs lying in the street as the chosen walk on by.

And the irony here is that because of the Jews' unbelief and their rejection of Jesus, they themselves have become that which they so hated.

They were now the dogs on the outside looking in.

And it provoked a lot of jealousy.

And this circumcision that they clung to, now a signal, which what used to be a signal of their chosenness, their election, is now nothing more than cutting the flesh.

That's why Paul calls it mutilation.

They mutilate themselves.

No acts or works of the flesh could ever have saving power.

And that's what they believe circumcision gave them was saving power.

But Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jews and Judaizers and everyone else included.

Other translations instead of mutilators use the term false circumcision.

The Jews were false.

Those who put their faith in Christ are true.

Paul goes on to say, for we are the circumcision, or the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.

The church is now God's chosen people.

The Judaizers said that the law, in addition to Jesus, is the way.

Jesus plus law equals life, for you math nerds.

But God's word says exactly the opposite.

It says, Jesus plus anything is actually nothing.

Jesus plus anything is nothing.

Jesus plus outward acts of self-righteousness is nothing.

And that's the trap that the Judaizers fell into.

And I'm telling you, that trap is still getting people today.

It's so easy to fall into self-righteousness.

To honor God with our words, only to dishonor him in our hearts.

Jesus said in Matthew 15, quoting the prophet Isaiah, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

We do this when we honor God with our lips, singing songs and praising Him and praying to Him.

But then we look around and we estimate our own righteousness.

Out of one side of our mouths, we praise God, and on the other we elevate ourselves, condemning those filthy sinners around us and proclaim righteousness by comparison.

We think not as bad as them over there.

But I'm telling you, this trap is insidious and sneaky.

Beware, beware the dogs, Paul says.

Beware the evildoers and the false circumcision.

Beware the same spirit that led the Judaizers astray.

And if you're hearing this warning and thinking, I might be guilty of that.

I know.

Me, I know I am guilty of that sometimes.

Confess it to the Lord.

Repent of it.

Ask God to give you love for those around me.

For those around you.

Let's put no confidence in the flesh, but only worship God in the spirit.

Spirit and glory in Christ Jesus.

Let's move on into verse four of our text.

He says, Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

I think an underlying point that Paul is getting here, he's getting to the idea of justification.

Justification is how a lawbreaker can be made right with the judge.

It's a legal term.

The Jews understood justification to be this: obey the law.

To be right with the judge is simply never break the law.

And if you do happen to transgress, accidentally break it, the law has provisions through sacrifices so that you can be justified.

But Paul is saying, no, this is not possible.

The law cannot make you right with the judge.

There is no provision in the law.

He said that if anyone could possibly claim self-righteousness on the basis of the law, it was him.

He was handled from birth in accordance to the law.

He was born into the right heritage, an Israelite from the most pure of family lines.

He was part of the strictest sect of Judaism, a Pharisee.

Not only that, but he was a teacher of other Pharisees.

There is no length that he would not go to seek and punish lawbreakers, so much so that he oversaw the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.

He was committed to the law like nobody else could be.

Blameless, he says.

If anyone could be right with a judge, he could be.

But no.

Even Saul the Pharisee could not be justified.

Romans 4.

It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus was raised for our justification.

We are justified to God, the judge, by faith.

We have peace with God through faith in Jesus.

Our confidence is not what we can do for God, but in Christ alone.

Paul had everything in the world going for him.

Before he met Christ, he had power, position, security, wealth.

But continuing in verse seven, he says, But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Paul says, to know Christ as Lord is surpassing worth.

Notice, he doesn't talk in terms of good and better.

The things I have in the world are good, but knowing Christ is better, no.

He says, everything is counted as loss, and Christ is gain.

Christ is gain.

Before his conversion, Paul invested deeply into the gains of the world.

He did whatever he could to advance himself and to collect accolades from the others around him.

He was thinking of gains, that these gains would translate to God.

I've got gains in the world, they're going to be worth something with God.

But then, that fateful day on the road to Damascus, where Paul, then Saul met the risen Lord Jesus, and he heard those words: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

From that moment, all gains were moved to the loss column.

The world tells us that material gain leads to happiness.

Collect all you can, be good along the way, and you will be happy.

But Paul is saying, no.

All the gain in the world is worth nothing.

It's a loss compared to knowing Christ.

And this is more than just words.

Paul actually did lose everything.

He says, For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Rubbish.

That's the nice way to put it.

Our translation says rubbish, but the Greek word he's using is dung.

All things are as worthless as that.

Of no value compared to knowing Christ.

In no uncertain terms, Paul is saying that to know Christ and be found in him is completely worth the loss of all he had.

Remember, Paul is writing this letter to the Philippians from prison.

All that power and status and wealth was gone.

Being found in Jesus was on one side of the scale.

And no matter what you heaped up on the other side of the scale, it would never budge.

You could put anything on there.

It would never budge.

Jesus is infinitely better.

So that makes me wonder.

What am I prepared to lose?

What do I have in the gain column right beside knowing Christ?

God forbid, above knowing Christ.

What are those things?

Do I value my hopes and dreams so much that I spend all of my time hustling?

The whole world is about a side hustle now.

I've find myself looking at those articles, top 10 best side hustles, so I could make a little extra money and propel my dreams forward?

Do I spend all of my time doing this?

But barely any time with God?

Barely any time in his word or being the hands and feet of Jesus out in the world?

Do I value my financial security so much that when I see the needs of people around me, I turn into Scrooge?

Remember old Ebenezer?

One little penny?

That's mine.

Back in the little coin purse.

Do I do that?

Do I value my personal comfort so much that I avoid giving myself to the people around me?

Do I avoid building new relationships at church because my old ones are just so much more comfortable?

And I could ask you all the same thing.

What are you afraid to let go for Christ?

That's a hard, that's a hard conversation to have with yourself.

Be honest, be honest with God.

Don't shy away from it, don't avoid it because it's difficult.

Lean into it.

That's what God wants us to do.

And He'll help you.

So, why is being found in Jesus, why is knowing Christ just so valuable that it's worth throwing everything else away?

We talked about justification through faith in Christ, but there's something, I dare say, even higher than justification.

Now, if any eyebrows are being raised, just bear with me.

It's true that being justified is the foundation of our relationship to God.

We must be put in right standing before the judge.

Our sins must be forgiven.

Without justification, all would perish in hell.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death.

Justification is the acquittal of sins, where God pronounces the sinner righteous based on the work of Christ on the cross.

So what could be higher than that, you might ask?

Adoption.

Justification is the starting point of salvation.

It gives you the right standing with God the judge.

Notice the title, God the judge, but adoption builds on that and gives the Christian the right to call God Father.

Galatians 4.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that they might receive adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir through God.

Adoption makes us children.

I've heard some people say we're all God's children.

Everybody, implying that the whole world, all of humanity, is just part of one big happy family in God.

But that's not true.

All people are not God's children.

The passage in Galatian that we just read is clear on that.

We were slaves.

That's what we were.

Born under the law, slaves to sin because of the law.

The law brings knowledge of sin.

It keeps us under its thumb, and all of humanity is helpless slaves.

That's what they are.

Helpless slaves to sin.

But then, at the right time, God sent forth his son to be born of a woman to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters.

And because Christians are now the only sons and daughters of God under our older brother Jesus, God sends us his Holy Spirit.

And that spirit in us, like we said earlier, the spirit in us, that's what cries, Abba, Father.

As adopted children, we have the right to approach God as Father.

We can boldly come before his throne in prayer and worship him in the spirit.

These are privileges that no one has under the law of Moses.

To approach God in the Holy of Holies without the proper purification rituals meant death, certain death.

To be in God's presence, Moses was hidden in the cleft of the rock.

God put his hand over him as the train of his robe walked on by, so that Moses would not die.

But now, as adopted children, we have the right to approach God.

We can boldly come to the throne in prayer and worship him in the spirit.

That spirit would have killed Moses, is now in us.

They were needed before as the intercessor to God.

But you and I can approach him with boldness and freedom.

And we can even have that spirit in us.

And adoption makes all of that possible.

There's one more benefit to being found in Christ that Paul mentions here.

In addition to justification and adoption, he lists resurrection.

He says that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.

The righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Those who gain Christ are found and are found in him will know the power of his resurrection.

Now we're all going to face death should the Lord tarry.

Those found in Jesus, however, will not experience the second death, which is far, far worse.

Now the operative word that Paul uses here in this section is his resurrection.

All people will be raised from the dead.

And they will be raised for the purpose of judgment.

And they will give an account, every one of us will give an account for our dealings in life.

Most, unfortunately, will be found trusting in their own righteousness and will face the most horrifying words imaginable.

Depart from me, I never knew you.

I should break all of our hearts.

And they will be subject to the second death, which is outer darkness in hell for eternity.

But those in Christ will see firsthand the power of his resurrection.

It won't be just the general resurrection, but it'll be his resurrection.

They will hear the words, Well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of your master.

That should make us rejoice.

Notice, though, that Paul says, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in death.

Share in his sufferings, becoming like him in death.

Oof.

Does that mean that we must be persecuted as martyrs to have Jesus' resurrection?

Well, it may mean that for some of us.

It might come to that.

We should be prepared for that.

But sufferings, it rains on the just and the unjust alike.

Every person who has ever lived has suffered in some capacity, and has or will die.

Something to come to grips with.

But Paul isn't making a general statement on suffering and death.

Again, he uses the word his, may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

So how did Christ suffer?

Well, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the most obvious one, the cross.

But he also gave himself up during the incarnation.

The incarnation, the greatest miracle ever done.

God becoming man.

In Philippians chapter 2, just a little bit before our text, it says, Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even on a cross.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Jesus gave up everything by taking on the form of a servant, and humbled himself, being obedient even to the point of death on a cross.

And this is what we must do also.

Give ourselves up, put on humility, die to ourselves.

We are to suffer the loss of all things, not considering anything of value, even our own lives.

That's the heart of what Paul is saying.

And until we can say, like Paul, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, we cannot share in Christ's sufferings.

This is what baptism is.

Those who were just recently baptized can know.

And you do know, you are putting that old man inside to death and rising with Christ.

If you've not been baptized, I strongly consider, I strongly suggest that you do consider it.

That you put on Christ, that you put to death the old man, showing that you've been raised up out of the water.

Raised with Christ.

And this is what it means in his context to share in his suffering, becoming like him in his death.

So, wrapping up.

We've answered the questions that I posed in the beginning, although not super directly.

You probably can't attribute them to your notes, and I'm sorry for that.

Who are God's chosen people?

The church.

Those who are found in Christ.

The ones who consider every worldly gain to be loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.

Those who have laid down their lives in obedience to God.

How are they made right with him?

Well, they've been justified by Jesus.

He took the punishment they earned through their sins and made them right with the judge.

What position do they have to him?

Well, more than being justified, they have been adopted by God and made his children.

They are co-heirs with Jesus, who is the firstborn from the firstborn risen from the dead.

Every spiritual blessing is theirs in Christ.

That's the position they have.

And what is their responsibility?

Back to our first verse.

Rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord.

Their responsibility is to trust that Christian joy is made manifest in them by the Spirit of the living God.

They are overjoyed to remove everything from the gain column of their lives and only consider knowing Christ to be their only gain.

They intentionally express joy in partnership with God's Spirit in them so that no matter their circumstances, they can have joy to the glory of God.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you that you have justified us, making us right by your grace and mercy, but you have also adopted those of us who have put our faith in you.

Our faith in Jesus alone.

God, would you help us to rejoice when our circumstances tell us that we can't?

That thankfulness, gladness, contentment would be stirred up in our spirits.

Help us to treasure these things, but even more treasuring that we know you and are found in you as we go through our lives, Lord, by the power of your spirit, would you apply this text into our lives as we meditate on it and think about you and think about these words, how we can treasure you above all else.

God, would you show us the things to cast off, to move out of the gain column so that you alone are holy in our hearts?

We bless your name above all else, the name of Jesus who saved us.

And it's in his name I pray.

Amen.